Saturday, December 03, 2016

Nine years ago today, we stood outside our home in Bundibugyo straining to hear the phone call telling us our closest Ugandan friend, Dr Jonah Kule, had died of Ebola. Scott, Scott Will, and I had remained in Bundibugyo to provide medical care in this epidemic. We had sent our team and family out of the district as the reality of the danger unfolded, but the day Jonah died was perhaps the darkest of all.

So when Lesley Stevens, one of the team leaders in Bundi, sent me an invitation this year to contribute to a new Children's Daily Devotion based on the works of George McDonald, I asked for the date of Dec 4 in Jonah's honor, and took the passage from John 12 that Scott read at Jonah's burial.

How appropriate that I got the email link this morning that the book is ready for sale. This is a collection of short daily scriptures, pictures, and thoughts appropriate for kids in the 4-10 age range. I have only seen a few but they looked good. I think 80-some authors contributed. Proceeds go to a charity for troubled kids.

Books are always my favorite Christmas gift, because words are the avenue to the heart. Like my two books (which are stories so quite different than this group project, but still valuable for world view and enjoyment) this one points kids to Truth.

And take a moment today to remember Jonah's family in prayer. As we head into a doctor strike here in Kenya where the poorest will suffer from the injustice of the system, this season of Advent reminds us that the world still longs for light. Today we acknowledge the darkness which is the background for Glory, but cannot overcome God's flickering Presence.

Our Mission

who we are

paradox:
1. something that combines contradictory features or qualities.
Life in Africa is full of contradictions - the beauty and pain; the abundance and the poverty; the joy and the sorrow.
Our lives, too...dying that we might live; strong in our weakness; sinners yet saints.
2. a "pair of docs"